God, I start this week tired. Overwhelmed with weariness. A grayness in my soul. There have been many trigger points for me in getting here, more than I can name. You're bringing to mind the time I spent with my mother-in-law this weekend and how I was more concerned with managing my responses to her than in moving deeply into what You're doing through the insecurities she's experiencing in life. You remind me of the fear and frustrations that were exposed in my heart over a health issue with my daughter, medical bills, juggling family transportation needs with only one car and the decisions in buying another used one. I also confess my surprise at the disdain I felt in my heart toward some fellow believers and their disregard of what I perceive to be important. Father, You know. You see. You cover me and all my ugliness with Your love. You let me know that a different way, Your way of relating and responding, is possible through Paul's report of the churches in Macedonia.
Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians....What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. (2 Corinthians 8:1-4, 6)
Paul is speaking of financial offerings and gifts, but their generosity spread beyond mere money. Their hearts were given first to You, unreservedly - holding nothing back, keeping nothing in reserve for themselves, putting no limits on what they would offer to You. Why? Because they knew what I forget,
...the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich. (8:9)
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